Lording it.

OK so we lost the Empire – but that need not have been the end of it for those of us bred to gad around the world being superior.  There were plenty of places on our doorstep, like for example Greece.  You could go on holiday to Greece, your money went a long way and if you felt like buying a nice beach-front property – you could – it was dirt cheap.  Then along came the EU and took a load of our cash and gave it to the Greeks and now things cost about the same as back home and those of us instilled with a British sense of superiority were robbed of this self-indulgence.
With perfect timing, the USSR collapsed and there were a whole new bunch of places where one could stroll about staying in the best hotels and eating at the best restaurants for mere pocket change. Locals would bow and scrape at the might of the British pound.  Then, bugger me if they didn’t start getting richer too – have you been to Prague lately?  Phew!  Estonia is not quite the bargain it once was and Latvia is catching up too.

Over the last few years even Thailand has been narrowing the gap and this damn awful recession has accelerated the process.  Five years ago, everything was about a quarter of the price it was in the UK – now it’s down (or up, depending on your point of view) to one third – within a few years it will be half.

Soon we will start being the ‘cheap’ country where the world’s rich come to look down on us as they sprinkle their yen or dollars onto to our outstretched hands – can’t say we didn’t have it coming 🙂